Courtesy
by IcyBlackHandofDeath
Summary: When you're so polite to your enemy, minds and temperments often get confused. Its better to be cold. You don't get hurt that way. Obi-WanXVentress


Yes, this story will be totally non-canon. I did read the wookiepedia article about Ventress, but I decided to disregard that.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. George Lucas is the only one reaping the rewards of this (profitable) futuristic series.

~8~8~8~8~8~8~

They were always so polite to each other. Anakin had always wondered why. Why, when Ventress was trying to kill Obi-Wan, he was still was so well-mannered. Anakin couldn't stand it. What possessed Obi-Wan to spare her every time he had the upper hand. Anakin could never do that. He actually didn't try to make it easier for people to kill him, despite what many seemed to think.

Little did he know, Obi-Wan Kenobi was thinking about the same thing.

~8~

Obi-Wan still wasn't quite sure why he was consistently so chivalrous to Ventress. He had an idea, but he was sure he would never be able to say this sneaking suspicion out loud. It was just a creeping suspicion, anyways. He was half sure that he loved her.

At least, he had before she had tried to go over to the Dark Side. He knew that, deep down, she didn't really want to be a Sith, but her heart believed that the Jedi had to pay for allowing her master to be killed. That want of revenge had twisted its self into something so foreign from what it had started as; she had stopped believing it was the meaning of her life. She had stopped wanting to kill, needing to spill blood.

Obi-Wan almost thought that he could bring her back.

And to think it had all started back when they were Padawans. Back when she was just Asajj.

~8~

Asajj was just this shy little Rattataki. He was just another outgoing human. Yet, they each held each other in a certain high respect that was beyond just scholarly competition. They were rivals in the Temple classes, and in gaining Yoda's approval.

And then one day, they were partnered together for a fencing exercise.

They were each the same height, wearing the same tan robes, holding the same training lightsabers to avoid seriously hurting the other. Obi-Wan had wanted a green lightsaber his whole life. He had envied Yoda for as long as he could remember because of the gorgeous emerald lightsaber. Now he finally had one, albeit a practice one.

He had always found the Rattataki a little strange. It wasn't just the bald part or even the light purple skin. He had seen stranger people while he was just traveling around the city, here on Coruscant. No, it was the way she carried herself. She always held herself half arrogant, half beaten down and dejected. Obi-Wan wasn't quite sure what she had been through on Rattatak, except that she had seen her parents killed in front of her quite probably gaping mouth and open eyes. Beyond that, he really didn't know much else about her, considering he normally hung out with Quinlan and Bant.

He decided that attacking her was quite out of the question. He would just defend himself and try to avoid getting hurt. Avoiding injury was always a positive to him. Even though the practice sabers didn't allow much possibility for injury, only causing minor burns, welts, and bruises, he still didn't feel like moping around the Hospital Wing and having everybody feel sorry for him. But, if either of the two were going to get hurt, Obi-Wan would rather it be himself that Asajj. Because he was just that kind of boy.

She clearly didn't have the same thoughts. She swung her lightsaber around and thrusted the weapon right at his abdomen. She was fighting with no sense of self-preservation. Asajj was a reckless fighter, caring more for action than grace and technique. Ironically, Obi-wan embodied the elegance of fighting according to Yoda, observing every minute detail to reach near perfection, even while he was still a young Padawan. Obi-wan and Asajj's battle was enthralling, like watching fire versus water, passionate energy against controlled aggression.

Their mock fight was all stabs and parries, fast-paced but still traveling toward the finale. The battle was almost entirely coordinated. The whole thing could have been one big set-up by Yoda to impress the students, Obi-wan thought while trying not to get stabbed by the lightning quick strokes that were barraging him. The look on Asajj's face was startling. She looked deadly, focused on destroying her opponent as if the battle actually mattered and Obi-wan were actually a real threat to her existence.

That's when Obi-wan Kenobi really began to love Asajj Ventress.

He loved her determination, her drive. He loved how she didn't want to die and be forgotten. Later, he loved her desire of revenge, to equal the debt the Jedis supposedly owed her. The love had started to fade when he was first sent to kill her. He still admired her, though.

Even when Asajj won the skirmish, he still loved her, even if he was too young to understand true love or all its implications. When Asajj had finally knocked the lightsaber from his hands, he had stuck his tongue out at her and stalked off to his friends, leaving Asajj alone in the circle to be applauded.

He knew at that moment that he would remember his defeat forever.

~8~

As Obi-wan traveled toward Tatooine, he pondered his youth and, especially, Asajj. He could still remember the look on her face, prepared to kill if it meant she would live another day. He remembered her victory and the look of cool pride that haunted her purple skin. He remembered every word she had ever spoken to him and all the times they fought; sometimes he won and sometimes he lost. He remembered everything and he would always remember. But now she was the Ventress, not Asajj. His love was for Asajj, so now he could kill her. He could kill the Ventress.

This time he wouldn't be so courteous.


End file.
